https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2018/6/15/17362958/michael-porter-jr-nba-draft-stock-pick-back-injury-surgery
How do patients typically feel after this surgery?
Better! Way better almost instantly.
“Most patients tell me they feel at least 50 to 80 percent better immediately after the surgery,“ Fischer says. “That’s because the jelly that comes out of the doughnut causes a huge inflammatory response in the area. It’s not just pushing on the nerve root, but it’s causing all these inflammatory factors to come in the area and cause an almost internal bruise. Once you remove that, all those factors go away and you feel a lot better.“
So why did Porter look so bad when he returned at Mizzou?
There have been enough lumbar spine injuries in the NBA for a team of doctors to conduct a specific report on it. This Sports Health study by Shobhit V. Minhas, MD, Benjamin S. Kester, MD, and Wellington K. Hsu, MD, takes a look at the recovery times for NBA players who’ve had the same type of surgery as Porter.
Using PER as a baseline, the study found that a patient won’t return to his typical level of play until his second season following surgery.
Porter returned to play four months after surgery, which Fischer said sounded about right for someone of his age and athletic abilities. But even if he’s fit enough to play, history says he’s still not going to be delivering peak performance immediately. It probably won’t be until his second NBA season that we see Porter at full strength.